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CAHOKIA, OR ‘“MONK'S MOUND, MADISON COUNTY, ILL. 


° : : . V/ 








ADISON COUNTY is rich in antiquities. Its central geographical 
position, and its peculiar geological formation, in ancient times, as well 
as now, made it a great centre of’ natural resources, and the ancient popu- 


Boag lation had their great central works in this locality. The greatest 
Ney 
ar, Te mounds in the United States are here, and it is really the Egypt of Ame- 





rica with its pyramids and tumuli looming up from the rich valley of 
| ; the Mississippi in wepenunte and grandeur, rivaling in in interest those of 
sf ie pip the Nile - oid 

Within the ten shila square of alluvial bottom in this county are more than one 
hundred mounds of considerable dimensions. The largest of these mounds are on the 
bank of the Cahokia creek five or six miles from Kast St. Louis. This group contains 
: seventy-two mounds, the majority of which are situated on a'square mile. The largest 
by pene gh Seren ‘mound is in the centre of the group and is known as the Cahokia or Monks’ Mound, de- 
fae riving its latter name from the fact that in the early history of the county some of the 
order of La Trappe settled near and for a. time occupied the mound. These monks lived 
in strict and silent seclusion, eat no meat and lived upon the most frugal and homely diet. 













of the colony departed for whence they came. 
In this connection we prefer the name of Cahokia Mound since it _perpetuates the 
| name of a tribe of Indians met by La Salle in. this vicinity, who gave their name to the 
 ereek. . 
The dear of the Cahokia Mound is a me NET with straight sacle! the longer of 
ae are north and south. It isabout one hundred feet in height. 
4 os the southern end, some 30 feet above the base, 1s a terrace or pe containing near 


4 


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hs ee Several of them soon succumbed to the malarial influences of the climate, and the remainder | 





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The top of the mound is flat and divided i into two parts, the Ban ae end b 
4 or 5 feet higher than the southern portion. The summit contains about an acre and 

Near the middle of the first terrace, at the base of the mound, is a projecting 
apparently the remains of a graded pathway to ascend from the plain to the terrace. ~The 
west side of the mound below the sétond terrace is very irregular, and forms projecting MF 
knobs, separated by deep ravines, probably the result of rain-storms; to the northwest corner 






























of the base of the structure there seems to be a small mound attached, in exact imitation of 
the small mounds attached to the base of the pyramids of Egypt as well as those of Mexico. 

The remaining sides of the structure are quite straight and but little defaced by the 
hand of time. t 

About the sides of the mound are still growing several forest trees, one of which is an 
elm several centuries old. s 

As the size of the Cahokia Mound has been given variously we applied to Mr. B. J. 
Vancourt, a practical surveyor living in the vicinity, at O’Fallen, and whom we knew had 
made a regular survey of the mound. Mr. Vancourt sent us the following : | Nid 

‘Tn my survey I did not follow the irregularities of the mound, but made straight lines | 
enclosing the base. The largest axis is from north to south and is 998 feet, the shortest OSG i 
from east to west is 721 feet. The height of the mound is 99 feet. The base of the struc- ee 
ture covers 16 acres, 2 roods and 3 perches of ground.” 

Our own survey made the base somewhat less than sixteen acres in extent, it being 
somewhat dificult to point out the precise line where the structure begins to rise from the i 
plain. Mei i laa 

The base of the Cahokia pyramid covers more ground than any pyramid of Egypt, and prs 
with the exception of Cholula, which is, however, simply a mass of ruins, the Cahokia is the 
largest in the world. . 

The great pyramid of Bgypt—Cheope, j is 746 feet square. The temple of Mexico was. 
680 feet square. | ie 

The summit and lower terrace of the Cahokia Mound has been plowed a few times. 3 
_ Brackenridge who visited the mound in 1811, says that the monks used the lower terrace ear 
for a kitchen garden, and also had the summit of the structure sown in wheat. The great 
pyramid has not been materially changed, however, and doubtless presents the same out- 
lines to-day as at the time of the discovery of this continent by Columbus. — 

Since some doubts have been expressed as to the artificial origin of this structure we were 
much interested to ascertain what could be learned in this respect by examination. On the 
top of the pyramid are the remains of a house, said to have been commenced by the monks, 
but afterwards added to and finished as a comfortable residence for the family of a man 
named Hill, an enterprising settler who owned the mound and a large body of land adjoin. 


s 





ANTIQUITIES OF MONKS’ MOUND. - 3 





<j as ie ing. Beneath this house is a deep unwalled cellar. A section down the side of the cellar 
tg tie to the depth of ten fees is very plainly revealed a deposit of various kinds of earth’ without 
coe stratification. The principal part of this deposit was the black humus or mould, so common 





in the bottom and forming the principal soil, very sticky when wet and breaking into cubi- ait 
cal blocks when dry. Here and there, as if thrown promiscuously among the black monld, 
is a bunch of yellow clay, or sand, or marly loess, these bunches being about such size as a 
man could easily carry. 
Similar sections can be seen up the old road made by Hill to ascend to his residence. | 
~ On the waren terrace is a well (shown in the engraving dug by pe and Ok Ah to se 


cavating for the well still lies near, and would indicate that the Ghee spa caaien re, 
similar to those seen in the cellar. Old settlers living near where the well was dug, say that 
at the depth of about sixty feet pieces of pottery and two sea shells were found. 
ie In an old publication entitled the ‘‘ Far West’’ published in New York, by Harper & 
Bros., in 1838, the author after describing the great mound which he visited, also speaks of 
the well and says that while it was being dug, at the depth of sixty feet remains of corn 
and fragments of pottery were found. On drinking of the water he says it had a peculiar 
taste. He further mentions that it was but seldom used on account of the general belief 
among the inhabifants that the well was dug through an ancient cemetery beneath the mound. 
About midway, on the north side, or face of the pyramid, and elevated’ 25 or 30 feet 
above the base, in a small depression, stands a pine tree, singularly enough, since this tree 
is not found in the forests in this locality. There was a story rife among the early settlers 
that this tree stood at the mouth ef an opening or gallery into the interior of the mounds. 
To ascertain the truth of this matter, Mr. Thomas Ramey, the present owner of the mound, 
commenced a tunnel at this tree and excavated about ninety (90) feet towards the centre of 
.the mound. When fifteen feet from the entrance to the tunnel a piece of lead ore was dis- 
ee) covered, but no other object of interest was found. The deposits penetrated by the tunnel 
bl: are very plainly shown to be the same as seen in the cellar mentioned above. 
, Upon approaching the Cahokia temple, which stands on a level plain, two miles from 
ee the bluff and five miles from Mississippi river, one is astonished at its magnitude and the 


large force of men, time and labor required in its construction ; but the astonishment of the 
beholder is increased upon coming near, to find that the great mound is but one of many 
structures, which, if not so large, are still of immense proportions. 

About the great mound and lying in apparent irregular form over the plain are some 
seventy others, some square, some conical, others oblong. Several of the group are on the 
ot opposite side of the Cahokia creek. The situation of the mounds is shown by the map 
BN ie and diagrams on another page. The nearest mound on both the east and west side of the 














4 | ANTIQUITIES OF MONKS’ MOUND, 


_ greater structure, is square, with their sides and corners, like the greater pyramid, straight — 


and well-defined. The square on the east side is about 15 feet in height with between one 


and two acres on the summit. The square on the west side is very much larger, and some- 


thing over 20 feet in height. moh 
The largest square is southwest of the great mound, some 300 paces distant sae 30 
feet in height. The summit of this square platform is so large that it contains a good-sized 


farm house with all the outbuildings, barn-yards and gardens necessary to a well-regulated 


farm. 

One peculiarity of these square mounds, of which there are a number in the group, are 
that they are all attended by a small conical mound which is, in some instances, attached to 
one corner, This same peculiarity, as described by travelers, is observed in Egypt as well 
as Mexico, the pyramids being attended by a small mound attached generally to one corner. 


Some of the oval mounds are very large, being from ten to sixty feet in height. One _ 


large oval mound stands directly onthe bank of the Cahokia, (see Map) and the side of 
the mound toward the creek is so washed away as to give an excellent opportunity to ex- 
amine the material and manner of its construction. It is composed of black loam nothing 
different from the great pyramid. Manyeof the mounds, both conical and oval, have such 
declivity that one can with difficulty ascend the sides. , 

There are many other mounds in the bottom not enumerated in the Cahokia group. 
There is another very interesting group near Mitchell station, on the C. A. & St. L. R. R., 
between St. Louis & Alton. Several of this group present the same square flat forms, as 


described on the Cahokia. 


One of these platforms, measuring one hundred paces, or 300 feet on each of its four 


sides and 25 or 30 feet high, has been largely excavated to make room for railroad 
tracks. A portion of the earth near the centre still remains showing the bunches of earth 
thrown down promiscuously during the construction of the mound. ; : 

During the excavation for the four R. R. tracks that go through this ene a prea 
number of relics were found, showing that these ancient temples were used for sepulchres as 
well as for other purposes. From this mound we have a considerable number of copper 
implements and ornaments; some of the latter are curiously made to represent the shell of a 
tortoise, even showing the sutures in the plates of the shell. Short, heavy spools of bone 
covered with copper so neatly done, that only from a broken one did we discover that the 
interior was bone. Copper awls and needles, some of the latter 18 inches in length. There 
were elso flint implements and the teeth of a buffalo, pes with a cy te of both 
coarse and fine matting plaited together in a neat manner. 

Who were the people who erected these great mounds on the American Bottom? Tf 


these works were erected by the ancestors of our present red Indians, then the Indians must. 






















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CAHOKIA MOUNDS MADISON, CO. ILLINOIS. 
* Figures on Mounds denote height’ we feet. 


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ANTIQUITIES OF MONKS’ MOUND. 5 


have very greatly degenerated, for we are quite satisfied that the mound builder had a 


different government, a different religion, a different character, and most probably a different 


~ 


physiognomy. Our knowledge of Indian character, formed largely by personal contact with 
them in the west, has led us to believe that our Indians, like the Arabs of the desert are in- 
capable of any great work requiring physical labor. 

Still it would seem as if the Indians had some connection with the ancient mound- 
builders. Possibly the Indians of the present are descended in some way from the mound- 
builders, because mound-building seems to have been common to all savage people. 

Even if our Indians were known to have made mounds, which is highly probable, it 
would not prove they were descended from the people who built the great mounds on the 
Cahokia. 

Mounds are found éverywhere ; Europe, Asia, and Africa present almost precisely such 
mounds as we have in Illinois. It is-probable that our Indians have been known to make 


A ; . : . * . . . 
a few small mounds; at least we have such authority as Catlin on the Upper Mississippi, 





and Missouri, and the early explorers among the southern Indians. But the custom, if ever 
common with them, soon became obsolete after the advent of white men. 

There are many small mounds on the bluffs and highlands of Madison and adjoining 
counties, some of which, judging from the preservation of the remajns, are not very old. 

Traces of sepulchres are often found in the mounds, and there is no doubt but that the 
later Indians used them as burial places. 

The bluffs of Madison county are, in fact, an immense cemetery, and one can hardly 
dig on any prominence without encountering hurman bones. A majority of these places 
have no mound over them, but have been the common burial places of the tribes who, from 
time'to time, successively inhabited the locality. 

Mounds were probably only erected over the remains of persons of note. Neither are 
all mounds burial places. In Madison county, on the-Piasa and other streams, are many 
mounds that seem to be the remains of dwelling-places, of which the prominent material 
seems to have been clay, probably the roof as well as the sides. In these mounds only 
what seerns to be the kitchen refuse is found. 

Other mounds, like some of those in the American Bottom, were erected for religious 
purposes, public ceremonies and meetings. 

Some of these mounds are doubtless very old, others are ponipathisedy recent, while 
both have intrusive burials, and much error has been promulgated by casual examination 
and hasty conclusion. A leading theorist on this subject in Hhnois exhibits a well preserved 
brass button, with the well known letters U.S. upon it, said to have been found in a mound. 
And learned archeologists from the Smithsonian base their theories on some glass heads said 
to have been found in a mound in the west. 

































ANTIQUITIES OF MONKS’ MOUND. i 


In the vicinity of the Piasa creek, which empties into the Mississippi a few miles above a een 
Alton, a great variety of mounds can still be seen, some of earth covered with stone, others 
of stone and earth together, while others are wholly of earth. Le ON, 

On the face of the bluff in this~wicinity can also be seen a number of figures of ae RO 
mals and other objects painted with a red pigment. These figures are supposed to have 

-some hieroglyphic meaning. At Alton was another large figure representing a kind of | 
“dragon, known as the Piasa. This monster is represented as having wings, and there 
is a legend said to have been held by the Indians of this vicinity that this flying dragon 
once actually existed, and was addicted to carrying off members of the tribe to his eyrie 
among the rocks and devouring the body at its leisure. Some celebrated chief dedicating 
himself to the work finally killed the monster, and the picture was painted on the rock in 
commemoration of the occasion. 

The legend was written by Mr. John Russel, at one time a Baptist minister, and edi- 
tor of a local paper called the ‘‘Backwoodsman.” The story of the Piasa Bird, although 
largely imaginative, had an extensive circulation. 

The painting on the rock was also described by Marquette, years ago, however; the 
rocks forming the face of the bluff on which the object was portrayed were quarried off for ; 
the purpose of making lime. , 

Although the mounds of the American Battivai seem to belong to the same age as the 
great earthworks of Ohio, and were probably made by the same people, there are, however, . tine iy: 
no enclosures or embankments. The nearest enclosure by earthen walls that we have been Her Be bay 
able to discover is at the mouth of the [linois river. There is here an earthen embank- (Aba eh ae 
ment, circular in form, and nearly a mile in extent. A gateway protected by mounds opens beats Hy © 
on the high bank of a slough some distance from the Mississippi, but without a doubt its Tie 
shore in ancient times. In the centre of the enclosure stands a flat circular mound ; it ALS 
is hardly a work of defense; for the bluff towers above it a short distance away, and with- 
in easy bowshot. 

After many days’ exploration and study of the Cahokia mounds we are inclined to 
believe the evidence would tend to prove that this group of the greatest mounds in the 
Union, and possibly on the continent, had their origin for religious purposes, and this was 
the Mecca, or grand sacred shrine of the mound builder’s empire. From the flat summit 
of the temple, one hundred feet above the plain, were their adoritories, probably two build- 
ings like that of Mexico, glittering with barbaric splendor, and from whence could be seen 
from afar the smoke and flames of the eternal fire, their emblem of the sun. At the city 

- of Mexico the Spaniards found the Axtecs holding their religious ceremonies on almost pre- 
cisely such a structure, 120 feet in height, with five terraces. On the flat summit of this 
pyramidal structure, which, like Cahokia, was divided into two parts, were two adoritories 








~ may have been the residences of the priests ; just such mounds surrounded the Aztec temple. 


= i “creek and ravine. In the rich fields opposite St. Louis and for miles up the Cahokia creek, 


7 


bas | 


‘ ‘ dt re bummed. Thi great Mexican temple mound was 


The square mounds about the b. base of regen some me which are larger than the ee of : 


the Mexican temple, were vauues ‘used for sacred purposes, and the adjoining mounds 





“Surrounding the great Pyramid, ” says Clavigero, speaking of the Aztec or Mexican temple, 


“were forty similar structures of smaller size, consecrated to separate divinities; one was 
—ealled the House of Mirrors, and was covered with brilliant materials, and was sacred to 
“~the god of light, the soul of the world, the spiritual sun; another to the god of water ; 


another to the god of air; and Gomera says, ‘that because the winds go round the heavens 
they made this temple circular.’ 

Besides these were the dwellings of the priests, smug to 5000 according to Zarata, 
and of the attendants in the temples, and places for the instruction of the youth, and if 
Some accounts are to be credited, places for the reception of strangers who came to visit the 
temple and see the glory of the Court of Montezuma, There were ponds and fountains, 
groves and gardens, in which flowers and sweet smelling herbs were cultivated for use in 
certain sacred rites, and for the decoration of the temple.” 


There is a general concurrence in the accounts of the great temple of Mexico given by » 


the early writers, among whom were Cortez, Bernal Diaz, and others who witnessed what 
they described. These accounts give us, not only some idea of the predominance of reli- 
gious superstitions in Mexico, but also a good clue to the customs of our own mound builders, 
and the origin and uses of the great structures on the Cahokia creek. 

While the Cahokia temple mound is much the same shape as the Mexican temple, it 


is twice as large, and the surrounding temples and mounds much larger and greater in 


number, leading us to believe that on the banks of the Cahokia was the largest congregation of 


religious structures, not only on this continent, but of the world. 


What a city! What a population there must have been at that time on this alluvial 


plain! This view is also strongly evidenced by the fact that this rich plain, which is some 


75 miles long, and 5.to 10 miles wide, is a veritable cemetery of the past, and full of evi- 


dences of long human occupation. Relics of the stone age protrude from the bank of every 





we have mieny pone seen the market a literally plow thongs human bones. jor 

















S ANTIQUITIES OF MONKS’ MOUND, 


Cheops, look down on the monuments of pre-historic America. Wher he asked eee built | 


them, the echoes of his inquiring voice would go reverberating a the temples below, oy 


ah 


but no answer would return. 


Of course many relics of the ypast are collected in the vicinity of these ae 


from the mounds themselves. We have many thousand of these, of stone, copper, bone 
and shel], as well as various kinds of pottery. We are constantly surprised in looking over 
our collection to see the great similarity of our relics of the stone age, with those of other 
countries, ‘Hvan’s Stone Age of Great Britain” might represent ours eae oy a simple 
change of title and still be an incomparable work. 

There is hardly an antiquity in any country but what we have iupreseaied here, and 
the remarkable similarity of some of the more peculiar is very puzzling, especially since we 
have been in the habit of attributing this similarity of thought to the instinctive impulses 
of savage and barbarian untutored minds. We are so puzzled sometimes as to doubt our 
position. This is illustrated in the fact that after having taken from the mounds a number 


of large sea shells, found in such a position and under such circumstances as to leave no. 


doubt as to their being held sacred by the mound builders, and used in their religious cere- 
monies, to find that they were, in a great majority, the same reversed shell, with the mouth 
or opening on the left-hand side, and held as sacred by the Buddhists of India. We are 
told that the statues of Buddha are often seen, in which each toe of his foot is represented 
by a sinistral or reversed conch shell. From time immemorial these shells turning the 
wrong way have been reversed in Asia, and wherever the Buddhist religion is known, they 
have numbers of Pyrrula; Cassis, Conchs and other shells taken from the altars of the 
mounds, and exhibiting the same reversed whorls. It is a strange fact that the great 


mounds of Cahokia should, like those of Egypt and Mexico, stand straight with the main 


points of the compass, ; 


It is a singular fact that the mound-builder should have the same religious ceremonies. 
At the foot of the Cahokia temple we were so fortunate as to discover a sort of tomb or 
burial place in size less than two rods square; amid the crumbling dust. of near a score 
of human skeletons, we found about a hundred vessels of pottery in an almost perfect con- 
dition. It i is surprising to observe how these vases-and long-necked water bottles resembled 
in appearance and shape the ancient vessels of the Nile, but what is more strange is that. 
several of these vessels have painted on them in bright red pigment some of the same sym- 
bols as used by the sun-worshippers in Egypt, and very similar to symbols on similar vessels 
taken by Schliemann from buried Mycenee and Troy. (See illustrations). 
The limits of this paper permit us only to mention the very interesting fact that in 
connection with the mounds many symbols are found remarkably resembling those of the 
institution of Masonry, Squares, triangles, circles and circles touching parallel lines are not 


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ANTIQUITIES OF MONKS’ MOUND. 9 


uncommon in the shape of the mounds and earthworks, plummets, crosses of various kinds, 
painted and carved on earthen vessels, and we have curious boat-shaped stone implements 
that we are inclined to believe were used as spirit levels. A series of illustrations would 
be necessary to explain these to the public. Some of the ceremonies of the mound-builders 
also appear strongly similar to those used in Masonry. It may be that Masonry is de- 
scended from the original and primitive religion of mankind. From what centre the civili- 
zation of man came we know not. 


DESCRIPTION OF PLATE No. l, 


1. Long-necked water vessel, of which numerous examples are found in the American 
Bottom. 

2. Earthen vessel representing the beaver. 

3. This vessel, as well as the preceding ones, are burned hard and painted red. All 
one-fourth original size. : . 

4. 5. Earthen dishes. These fine vessels are represented one-eighth natural size. 


O> 


. Sea shell, Busycon perversum, an uncut specimen one-fourth natural size. 
. 10. Fine water vessels representing the human form one-quarter natural size. 
. Neat vessel with two human faces, one on the rim one-eighth natural size. 


co CO J 


. Vessel representing bear one-quarter natural size. 

11, Recumbent human figure with the neck of the vessel arising from middle of 
body, one-fifth natural size. 12. Like No. 11, a unique water vessel, one-fifth natural 
size. 

13, 14, 15. Fine earthen vessels one-half natural size, on which are carefully painted 
certain figures that probably refer to their religion. Although we have found many painted 
vessels and somewhat similar figures in Madison county, we have thought best to copy a 
few illustrations from the reports of the St. Louis Academy of Science. 

The originals of the figures from 11 to 15 inclusive, were found on the Missouri side 
of the Mississippi below St. Louis, and are now in the collections of the Academy of Major 
Hilder of St. Louis. The remainder of the objects figured on Plate 1, as well as Plate 2, 


are in my own collection, and were obtained from Madison county. 


DESCRIPTION OF PLATE NO, 2, 


1, 2,3, 4. Finely made vessels of burned clay, probably representing ducks, The 
illustrations explain themselves better than a description. 
5. Water vessels that, with the preceding and near a hundred others, were found in 


an ancient burial place at the foot of the great Cahokia Mound. 


a kins 


a. = 


10 ANTIQUITIES OF MONK'S MOUND. 


6. Copper from the mounds. The figure on the right is a copper axe, the next a 
crescent head ornament, beneath which is a copper bracelet and ornamental tube. To the 
left of the copper crescent is a spear point, a plummet and a smaller axe, all of beaten 
native copper. ~ : . 

7. On the left is a polished flint axe, a rare and beautiful implement, as also is the 
diorite axe on the right. They are perfectly smooth, the marks in chipping and manufac- 
ture being ground away, then polished. This is not the common form of the stone weapon 
so commonly seen, but exactly represents the form of European ground flint-axes, and is 
rarely found in this country. Both of these are from mounds in Jersey county. We have 
two similar ones from Madison, but they are broken. 

8. Two skulls found with the pottery at the foot of the great Cahokia Mound. The 
one on the right is a common form of the crania with the pottery. The one on the left is 
not uncommon, and may be the: result of artificial flattening, although the appearance of 
the rounded frontal bone, would indicate otherwise. They are both nearly entire. 

9,10, 11, 12. Finely finished pipes of red catlinite and found in the mounds; the 
bird pipe on the left is in the collection of Shurtleff college, and was found on the Gillham 
farm below Wood river. No. 12 is remarkable as showing a sort of beard on the side of 
the face. It is of stone and found with the pottery. 

14, 15, 16. Stone images. Probably used in religious or other important cere- 
monies. In each there are two funnel-shaped cavities in the back and posterior 
portions that have led some to believe they might have been used as pipes on 
great occasions. No, 16 is a splendid specimen of stone carving, and was found 
in a small mound on the Piasa creek, near the north-line corner of Madison 
county. It stands about (8) inches high and is cut from a single block of hard, 
red catlinite, or Minnesota pipe stone. The original is now the property of 
Blackburn University. 

No. 14 is also of red catlinite, of finé workmanship, and exhibits a hideous 
human form with a fish protruding from the wide open mouth, with another fish 
held in the hands between the knees. We also took this from a small mound on 
the banks of the Mississippi, near the mouth of the Illinois. No. 16 is also of red 
catlinite, and was found by some laborers making a new highway or public road, 
not far from the great Cahokia Mound. It was broken into several pieces by the 
plow, and the head is wanting. We obtained the original from the Missouri His- 
torical Society, and made the restoration as given in the cut. The original was 
made from a single block of stone, very neatly carved and highly polished. 

The builders of the Cahokia mounds, from the relic left behind, seem to have 
been of a peaceful character rather than warriors. Some of the finest impleraents 


Tapa 











P 
mY 








* ANTIQUITIES OF MONKS’ MOUND. 1) 


of stone from this vicinity are implements of agriculture. Hoes not very unlike 


in shape to those of iron in present use, were made of flint, and with such skill 
as to be very serviceable tools, Spades and digging tools of flint also, and we 
have several fine implements that are worn in such manner and of such peculiar 
shape as to indicate that they were fastened to a stock and pulled through the 
soil after the manner of a plow. Some of these implements of agriculture, doubt- 
less used in the cultivation of corn, are among the most valued of the relies of 
the stone age. 

We have no evidence that this people had any knowledge of metals, except, 
copper. They used both iron and lead ores as a stone, and both these ores are 
frequently found in their mounds. The age corresponding to that of bronze in 
Europe was a copper age on the Mississippi. Our mound-builders knew nothing of 
tin. Copper ornaments were not uncommon (see illustrations) here, and were 
made by beating out pieces of native copper, obtained apparently from the region 
of Lake Superior, where the mines were worked quite extensively. 

The domain of this people must have been of great extent or their com- 
mercial relations extended very widely, for we find side by side copper from Su- 
perior, pluinbago and mica from the: East, obsidian from Mexico or the west, and 
shells from the Atlantic . coast. ‘ 

What became of the mound-builders is not known; living as they did in 
communities about the alluvial lands of the rivers and streams, they were no 
doubt subject to epidemics and plagues, and thus were either destroyed or so 
weakened as to fall a prey to the nomadic tribes whom we now know as their 


successors. Even 
“Lo! the poor savage whose untutored mind.” 


bears no record in history to tell whence he came. . 

There is still another class of antiquities in Madison county, found in the 
caverns and cane shelters along the rocky bluffs above Alton. 

The aborigines, such as we see in the red Indian, it is well known seldom 
used a cavern, or even entered one, having a superstitious fear of such places; 


still it is quite probable that they were sometimes driven by storms or otherwise , 


to accept such shelters. Notwithstanding these facts in regard to the habits of 
the red. men, the caves and cave shelters about the bluffs show numerous evi- 
dences of occupation in times past. Accumulations of ashes in these caves are 
not uncommon, showing that for long periods these places were inhabited by sav- 
age men, who lived on the flesh of animals, and also of the unsavory shell fish 








12 ANTIQUITIES OF MONKS’ MOUND. 


found along the shore of the Mississippi. Large accumulations of the shells of 
the Unio and other shell fish are found near these old cavernous abodes. 3 

Nor are the indications entirely wanting that they did not sometimes partake 
of human flesh and were cannibals. In several of the caves about the Piasa, and 
in the vicinity of the mouth of the Illinois river, we have found among the de- 
bris of these cave dwellings human bones that had been broken lengthwise, ap- 
parently to extract the marrow. Farther up on the Illinois river, Judge Henderson 
and others have found similar evidences of apparent cannibalism. 

The implements left by these cave dwellers are very rude. We have some beads 
made of stalactite, as well as a few rude implements of the same material. As these cav- 
ernous retreats have not been thoroughly explored, much interesting information may 
be derived from this source. 

To sum up the ethnology of Madison county it would seem that there are to be 
found many traces of men of whom we know but little, except that they were the 
merest savages, living almost like the wild beasts with whom they fiercely disputed 
for dominion. 

Then comes a class of earthen mounds that seem very old, but which contain 
little or nothing to furnish data for any history whatever. 

Then there suddenly seems to intrude a class of earthen mounds, some of which 
are of huge dimensions. These people seemed to have a systematic government 
and religion, and to have followed agricultural pursuits. They seemed to have passed 
the pale of savagery, and advanced to some of the higher planes of barbarism. They 
lived in great communities, generally occupying the. low lands which they cultivated. 


The fact that these people had so many customs, and singular ceremonies, almost 


exactly like the barbarous nations of the old world, would indicate that there was a 
remote period of contact, and that the commencement of civilization may have had a 
common origin or started from a common centre. 

Solon’s story of Atlantis as told by Plato and learned by Solon of the Egyptian 
priests is the only theory, in our opinion, that explains the wonderful similarity of 
the custom as exhibited all over the» world. Solon’s story was that at one time a 
vast island, or rather a continent in extent, existed in what is mow the ocean,. 
and connected Europe, Asia, Africa and America. 

This great island was two thousand miles long and one thousand miles wide. 
It was densely populated, and the centre of all civilization, which spread from here 
through commercial relations. In one awful day this great Empire sank beneath 
the sea, and the surrounding continents kept not only a tradition of the great 
catastrophe as a. flood, but retained many of the customs learned from them. 


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ANTIQUITIES OF MONKS’ MOUND. es, 


Whether our great mound builders were a colony from Atlantis and founded 
an empire on the Mississippi, we are hardly prepared to prove. 

They disappeared, and the latter Indians, a large portion of whom are ro- 
mantic, succeeded them; from where, how, when, are questions we cannot answer, 
but we are diligently gathering together as story a leaf here and there, that are 
east up like empty shells on the shores of time. 





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